[BC] need a NON-technical explanation

[Tom Spencer]

Just in case no-one else replies...

Not sure about when the change from wavelength to frequency was made, but I have a theory as to why -

to simplify tuning for the non-technical masses; easier to pinpoint 1070 kc than 299 meters on the dial...

The change from cycles to Hertz was done to honor Heinrich Hertz, who was the first one to discover radio waves...

That also is in keeping with the rest of technical nomenclature -

Hertz
Farad
Ohm
Henry
Watt (the steam engine guy; hey, power is power, right?)
Volta
Ampere
Coulomb
Gauss
Maxwell

etc.

And I think Hams use exact frequencies when necessary or convenient...

Donna Halper wrote:
>how to explain in non-technical terms why radio stations of the 1920s moved away from using meters and embraced the term "kilocycles".  
>But to further confuse the neo-Luddites like me, today's radio receivers are in kilohertz-- I grew up with using "kc" and it all changed further at some point to "kHz", but I never understood that change either.  Soooo, if somebody could explain these changes and the reasons for them, in English that the average non-techie could understand, I'd be grateful.